mtaylor

Well done, Capt'n. Have pint or two to celebrate.

Jack, It just dawned on me... the tip is rated for 900 Degrees, What is the soldering iron (everything else but the tip) rated for? Probably in Watts..... The dredges came out looking good. I'm assuming they get painted?

Congratulations on the finish line, Frank. Beautiful work and a practicum to boot.

Carl --- Not quite everything yet. If Murphy will go bother someone else instead of me, I would appreciate it. I just wouldn't wish him on anyone here on MSW. EJ --- I'm trying. I think I need a better cover over the exhaust port.

Congratulations, Russ. She's a beauty and the coils just add to the atmosphere.

Depends on the tube. I ordered a 45W (which was tested and is putting out 50W) for $250 (not counting discount special going on) from lightobject.com. The power supply came from Automation Technologies. I think the tube supplier is getting better tubes from China these days. The last one was rated at 45W and tested for 45W max. The new one is the same tube I ordered the last time but the 50W is hit and with less input amperage. Same for the power supply. The replacement is higher rated for output and has a fan for cooling. As I'm understanding it, the Chinese are in a mad race.... their lax patent rules and enforcement are coming back to haunt them, so the legit suppliers are stepping up efforts for quality in manufacturing and improvements in design while petitioning and pushing the government to crackdown on the patent/copyright infringers. But I digress... I discovered the sequence of events and Murphy's part in this.... the water pump failed during a long, high-powered cut (which I contributed to per the above) which took out the tube from overheating... which took out the power supply.. which took out the controller board. Water pump and controller are on order and should be here late this week. I think that when the tube went, the 25kV followed the water down the high voltage cable to the power supply and there, all havoc was unleashed. Oh... all this equipment went out in the process of protecting the fuses. Not a single fuse blew. Go figure. As time permits, I'm still working on the cradles, but given the state of the workshop with laser parts all over, there's not much bench space for ship work.

As with any kit, the woods are not much beyond the basic basswood/lime and sometimes walnut, sappelle, etc. What many do, is buy the kit and then replace the wood from a place like Crown Timbers, Wood Project Source. or The Lumberyard. (in the USA). There's other sources for woods. See the first three pinned topics here: http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/forum/20-wood-discussion/ Dusek Models is the only one I'm aware of that offers upgrades on the wood (front page, lower right... sponsors).

Wonderful website, Ivan. I've bookmarked it and will go back to spend more time.

Bob, I got one at Lowe's for my laser. Since there's water involved, I felt a bit more "added protection" wouldn't hurt.

As far as speed, I recall (but haven't checked lately) that Sherline offered a set of pulleys to increase the spindle speed.

Rob, To the great advice you been given, I'll add two more... follow your heart. If the Morgan is the one, go for it. And the last... "listen to your wife". They know us best.

And there's the Bluejacket version.... It to makes an excellent model. Steve, I didn't know Caldercraft made a Constitution....

Brian. Is the false deck warped? Or is it the deck area on the bulkheads is out?

Give us some help... Price, features????? Look up what you've found and I'll add Littlemachineshop.com. Also accessories... you can spend more on them than the machine. Some will be used frequently, others... never.

I use clamps to hold the wood in an arc for edge bending and a hot air gun to supply the heat. I've found that if the wood gets hot enough (wihout scorching, it will hold the curve when cool. If I didn't get it right the first time, a quick dip in the water bucket and back on the jig and apply the heat gun again.

I'm already beyond a stock tube... I really can't go higher power without a lot of cash and time. And let the sharks get their own lasers....

Well done and well-deserved celebration is in order. Beautiful, Dave.

It was my fault entirely. I did some high power (close to max) on some wood to see if I could cut it and also I had some abberations showing up in the mA meter a week or two ago when I was re-calibrating after getting the new lens. While cutting the cradles, I got distracted and bumped the power level to beyond max... poof... zap.. and all the smoke got out of the parts. My concern now is that the controller card got knocked out but those who know say that's "unlikely"... Note to self: put a guard grate over the exhaust duct. How very true. Parts are on their way but I have enough hand work stuff going on that waiting for them won't create a problem. I didn't know I was entitled to them.... I best go talk to the emperor. HMS Visa = credit card. No. I had to cut the cradles out anyway but I was using the laser for marking the wood with the design.

I trust the next three won't be 74's....

That is impressive. You'll have a nice fleet when you're done.

Yepppers.. the joys of high tech. I know from my racing days that when you push equipment, things sometimes go "boom". Parts are ordered and enquiries into others. I think the parts (tube and power supply) will be my present to myself. I was hoping Santa would drop off a Byrnes Thickness Sander but... We'll have to see how fast repairs can be made to HMS Visa.

Mac, You probably should go back to your opening post and remove your email addy. This site does get trolled by spammers and their bots (as do all sites) and they might (no.. make that will) harvest your email addy.

Book? Website? Do tell....

Thanks OC. Major disfunction today... cutting the cradle pieces, the power supply and possibly the tube died on the Deathstar. Definitely the power supply though. HMS Visa is slowly sinking by the bows....

Thanks for the likes and comments... Confession time.. part of the problem is the camera. It's a bit long in the tooth age wise and I'm seeing distortion to some degree on other pictures. Not sure why though. Part was the problem with the plan centerline not being straight. I discovered it after the planking but before the grates. The other part is me... I'm just not there yet in the skills department. I'll be doing some sanding and see if I can minimize it but I also have the ship's boat covering most of the hatches in the center area. I'll do a bit more sanding and shaping and see if I can fix it. It's not as great a problem in person as the camera shows. One of the reasons I'm looking at the camera on this is the two bitts for the pinrail by the mainmast. In some pictures, those bitts are not parallel but canted outward. Measurement says I'm damn near spot on. I'm not a master at this... just a learner. Luckily, I know where the bodies are buried so speak and have a long list of "you dummkopf..." type of things to watch out for. Back to working on the cradles.....